Travolta, J. Lo sign on for big-screen ‘Dallas’

updated 4:28 p.m. ET April 21, 2006

LONDON - Gurinder Chadha will direct John Travolta and Jennifer Lopez in a big-screen version of the prime-time soap opera "Dallas."

The British filmmaker, who directed 2002's "Bend it Like Beckham," said Friday she had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox. Travolta will star as the conniving Texas oil baron J.R. Ewing and Lopez will play his wife, Sue Ellen.

Filming is set to begin in October, with the movie slated for a late 2007 release.

"Dallas" aired from 1978 to 1991. In 1980, an estimated 83 million TV viewers tuned in to find out who shot J.R., played by Larry Hagman, who had been blasted within an inch of his life in the previous season's cliffhanger finale.

The shooter turned out to be Ewing's sister-in-law Kristin.

Chadha, who gave Jane Austen a Bollywood twist in "Bride & Prejudice," is also involved in adapting another TV hit, the '60s sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie." She said that film "is still in the pipeline, but there is still some way to go on the script."

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